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Show 2 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. various reasons, including insufficient support funds, the attendance had diminished during the war period and the years immediately following. Many schools had not been utilizing their entire capacity, and it seemed that Indians and those responsible for their education needed to be awakened to the prime value of education in the prep-aration of Indians to take their rightful places as productive citizens. With that end in view a school enrollment campaign week was planned and an urgent appeal issued on August 12 1921, indicating in detail the course to be taken by all superintendents in fulfilling the slogan, "Every eligible pupil in school,:' and outlining the co-operation that should be sought from missionary workers, Indian traders, and all service employees, with the definite view of filling all available capacity in Government, mission, and public schools. The response was prompt and whole-hearted, with the result that very early in the school year practically all schools were filled to utmost capacity and many, particularly the large nonreservation boarding schools, were compelled to turn away hundreds of boys and girls who were eager for education. The school year 1921-22 has broken all previous records of enrollment and attendance. The total increase in average attendance in schools of all kinds was ap-p, roximately 3,000, a very large proportion of which was in the Government boarding schools and in the public schools. In fait, the average attendance in these boarding schools was 16,453, which exceeds by 549 their capacity of 15,904. There was considerable unused day-school capacity, ,which may be attributed to several facts: First, economic conditions among Indians in many sections of the country made them desirous of placing as many as ossible of their children in school where they could be clothed, &d, and cared for; second, many children who had previously gone to Gov-ernment day schools enrolled in public schools; third, in a very large number of day-school districts there are not enough children to fill the schools to capacity. Especially is this true when the day-school course is limited to three grades, and therefore it is pro-posed to extend the grades in day schools where children are avail-able and can be accommodated for higher work. In this way board-ins- school canacitv will be released for those who can not have d6-school privileges. A further study of statistics reveals some facts that demand the attention of those who are responsible for Indian education in this country. There are in round numbers 90,000 Indian children be-tween 5 and 18 years of age., Approximately 65,000 of them have been enrolled in school during the school year 1921-22, leavlng 25,O;)O out of school. Of that number, approximately 7,000 are in-eligble to attend schools for normal chlldren because of ill health, defective eyesight, early marriage, and other reasons. These unfor-tunate ones, however, should not be neglected. Eliminating the ineligibles, there are still approximately 18,000 Indian children of school age to be provided for in some way. I desire to.cal1 special attention to the Stqtes that have large numbers of Indlan chlldren out of school, grow?ng up without an English education and with-out industrial training of any kind to prepare them for independent living; in other words, following in the footsteps of their parents and soon to become another generation of non-Enghsh-speaking |